Im as pro Jrue as most folk
But the lakers got Ramon sessions for basically nothing. The cavs took on Luke Walton for gods sake. For a team based on its athleticism sessions would have been a nice fit.

Can someone name a frontcourt so weak and unathletic as ours ? You know what happens when you asks your wingmen to rebound against opposition bigs all season long ? You burn them out ! Because a wing spend much more energy jumping up and down against a big plus to box out bigger guys takes a toll on you, thats why Iggy's knees flared up and did you see Turner going for rebound now a days ? Almost grounded ! EB isn't even jumping anymore. Asking your undersized, unathletic, old PF to everynight guard opposition best frontcourt players, be the lonely shotblocking menace and half the game play against centers too would run him to ground. So to cover our despicable weak frontcourt plus generate 90% of the team offense and also defend opposition wings and smalls, has burned out our perimeter. The team unbalance cought up to them. This season has so litte time to rest and prepare that smokes and mirrors could back fire on you.
Do you remember the mini ressurgence begun after the all star weekend, so guys were fresher. The blame is on the front office, owners camp. But they are young and exciting and continuity !
Sure..

Nothing Collins is doing makes sense, from playing endless Small Ball to declaring that Evan Turner is not allowed to bring up the ball unless he gets the rebound to the Lou Will Iso Show to Jodie Meeks still getting 25 minute a game, etc. etc. etc.

Collins is puzzling me..
First he said one of the reasons that ET couldn't start is because Lou and Meeks together are too small to be the bench backcourt unit. So what happened ? Since he moved ET to the starters, we have seen a lot of that small backcourt, so if one of the positive aspects of Jrue, ET and Iggy are their versatility and interchangeable, why not mix and match Lou and Meeks between them, and now they have the other Young too to add.
In NY game that midget backcourt killed us, and from that game on I've been seen a lot of those 2 together.
Also the EB, Thad frontourt maybe our best but can't get the job done forever, guys are always in size, weight, athletic disvantage, one year after another and this season with this schedulle ? Unreal to expect another thing.

I've been to a couple games this year, and every single person around me has agreed that Collins is an incredibly overrated coach, that Meeks does not belong on the court ever, and that Turner needs to have the ball in his hands more.

liked hawes so much better when he was wearing a crisp pinstriped suit and the only time i noticed him at games was when he would shamelessly ogle the dance team(he did this every time the dance-oh sorry, DREAM team performed)

Offense is down to 17th in the league, with a rating of 103.8. Last year the same rating would have been 25th. It's never too late to trade away some of our dazzlingly gifted non-scoring perimeter defenders for offensive talent or draft picks.

You know, even if they got absolute zeros on the defensive end (which is pretty much what they have right now), but guys who could take advantage of easy looks, that would be a major upgrade. This is for a post I'm thinking about writing, but check out these numbers:

Think about those numbers for a second. Your centers are supposed to be getting easy hoops for you.

The perimeter defense has to make up for shitty interior defenders right now, and while it's frustrating to watch, they get the job done. Still the best defense in the league. But on the offensive end, the bigs just completely drag down the overall efficiency. You expect perimeter guys to be at or slightly above 50% TS (the really good ones are better), but the average center's TS% is almost 54%, the average PF is almost 53%. Thad has basically been average and the other guys haven't even been close since early in the season, when Hawes was shooting a completely unsustainable percentage on long twos.

Guess I don't have to write the post now, but the nut graph would be if you look at the micro (closing games out, beating really good teams) the answer is probably a complete rebuild. But if you look at the macro, improving the overall efficiency differential, just getting league average bigs would improve their offense by leaps and bounds.

Do you really consider 'beating really good teams' a micro problem? If you can't beat really good teams, you can't contend for a title, which is kind of the purpose of professional sports (in my opinion) so it's kind of a macro issue.

The big man problem isn't the only over efficiency differential problem, the ability to finish at the basket and or draw fouls is a team wide issue that might even be worse next year when hopefully Lou Williams is playing for someone else

Well, the overall differential is actually really good even this season. The problem w/ the offense is that they don't get enough easy points, be it at the free throw line, or at the rim. Yes, the perimeter guys need to get to the line more often, but not having a single big who is above average in terms of efficiency, and really only one guy who's close to average, is a huge drag. Lou and Iguodala are basically average in terms of efficiency for their positions, Jrue and Turner are decidedly below average, but you can make the case that Iguodala and Jrue are in total better than their numbers, because they hurt the efficiency of their opponents significantly.

The big men are a double dose of suck. They're inefficient on offense, and their covers are more efficient on the other end because of their soft interior defense.

My point is that a noticeable increase in overall efficiency differential could be gained simply by getting average offensive bigs in here who played little to no defense, instead of terribly inefficient bigs who play little to no defense. The upgrade wouldn't even need to be that expensive.

The micro issues are no less important, they're just harder and more expensive to solve. It's basically a moneyball-like argument. You can make the team markedly better, on paper, but odds are you still aren't going to be able to overcome a team w/ legit superstars who get calls.

but if this team manages to add an average to above average center this offseason, a guy like Sam D, couldn't that be the difference between winning losing the games like the Clippers, TWolves, maybe even a couple of the Spurs games...and doesn't that make them one of the top 3-4 in the league?

If they're going to make marginal improvements, that's the direction they should move in, definitely. But is that what they're going to do, or are they going to keep this core together and bury their head in the sand hoping they grow together? And even if you do make that type of marginal improvement, is it enough to beat Miami and/or Chicago in the playoffs? I don't know, but I kind of doubt it.

Jodie and Lou are our only players that can hit those mid rangers consistently. I really don't understand why the Sixers don't run plays for them. Especially for Lou. He can play off the ball so well and chances are good his catches his defender on the wrong foot.

Also: Is it concerning how bad our guards are finishing around the rim? I feel like I can watch any Hornets/Wizards/Bobcats game and their guards look like way better finishers.

I'd just like to have a Wesley Matthews kind of guy coming off the bench that can hit some shots and play some D. Or even a guy like Leandro Barbosa. I mean, I'm not high on those players, but they can change a game from time to time. We've just Lou every 2nd and Meeks every 15th game.

I was asking the same thing about Jrue. Thought it was a terrible message to send. His shot wasn't falling, but he was really running the team and contributing across the board. And it's not like he was chucking shots. Thought the team really suffered when he was on the bench.

1. Loose to a bad team (Wiz)
2. Win a close game.
3. Live at the line in the 4th qtr (which is how they and many teams win close games.)
4. Get a big performance from Brand in a 2nd of a B-B.
5. Controlled the D-Boards against a physical team.

wow-just got home(stopped at the xfinity center thingamabob after the game...whole new postgame scene at the sports complex, and now fans who get shut out of playoff games have a natural place to gather...i worry about what it could add to eagles gamedays a little bit though)...ELTON BRAND!Un-real. In the last 8 days, I've seen him singlehandedly save the season twice. I thought his 3rd quarter against Boston was good-his 4th quarter tonight was unreal. He couldn't miss-the standout plays were the two 3point plays, the two outlandish o-boards where he just would not be denied, and the back to back kickouts for open 3's by Jrue and Iggy. EB has earned every cent of that contract

Thank God for him because the offense was uuuuugly for the first 3 quarters-as were Collins' manic substitution patterns. Doug was getting a lot of heat from the knowledgeable fans around me and ET was getting a lot of love. He had a ral nice game, by the way-more aggressive moving off the ball than I've ever seen him-inexplicable that he sat on the bench for the first 10 mins of the fourth in lieu of Jodie Meeks(who to his credit showed a lot of hustle and energy tonight...unfortunately, he is a very limited offensive player and a poor defender)